The Hebrew language is difficult, and yet - nine million people speak Hebrew in the world, according to figures currently published by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
According to a report in Israel Today, over a million and a half Israelis living in Israel do not speak Hebrew language as a first language and have trouble with it.
29% of immigrants from the Soviet Union who arrived in Israel after 1990 and do not speak Hebrew optimally, prefer to avoid approaching government services due to language difficulties. Language problems also affect employment status, more than half of the population believes that knowledge of Hebrew "greatly affects" the chances of finding employment.
Another part of the survey examined the attitude of Israelis to Arabic, which is considered a second language in the country: 70% agree that it is very important that all government forms will be in two languages, but only 29% believe that it is important that all Israelis know Arabic. Among Arabs there is an evident desire that all citizens will speak their language: 68% believe that it is "important" or "very important" that schools in the Jewish sector would learn Arabic as mandatory.
